


The First Time Additional Scenes

by annieoakley1



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 03:29:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annieoakley1/pseuds/annieoakley1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various missing scenes or short oneshots from The First Time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Star Wars

**Author's Note:**

> This first outtake was written for PiP, but I'll be adding more additional scenes in the future.

Peeta’s breaks from school seem to fly by too quickly, so she doesn’t want to waste any of their time together. Her idea of a perfect night is one spent at home, cuddling on the couch and watching a movie. The only problem is that she thinks Peeta has some awful taste in movies. He likes all those over-the-top fantasy films with huge followings and ridiculous plots. She’s not a fan of stuff like that.

But the key to any good relationship is compromise, so when she stumbles on Star Wars airing on television a few days before he’s due to arrive home, she doesn’t immediately change the channel like she normally would. A part of it is that she misses him terribly and the dumb movie reminds her of him, but mostly she knows that he would be absolutely thrilled if she watched it. Then maybe he can stop suggesting they watch it together and their brief time together can be spent in better, naked ways.

So she leaves it on, and she tries to pay attention, but it’s so stupid, and she has absolutely no idea what’s happening even though she only missed the first three minutes of it. She thought she had a least a cursory understanding of the characters and plot, since it’s so ingrained in pop culture that it’s impossible to be completely ignorant of it, but no. No, she doesn’t know what the hell is going on.

But something odd occurs about half-an-hour in: she starts almost enjoying it. Sure there’s too many weird creatures wandering around, and yeah, it’s hard to keep the names straight, but it’s not as awful as she thought. She manages to make it through the entire movie, and heaven help her, she liked it.

**

“Guess what?” she asks, smiling broadly. It’s the first thing she says to him after hello and a hug and kiss in greeting. She just can’t wait to tell him.

“What?” he smiles back, slipping his fingers in her hair.

“I,” she begins slowly, strictly to build tension. “Watched. In full. Star Wars!”

“You did not.”

“Yes I did!” she vows, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and nuzzling his neck. “It was on TV a couple days ago and I wanted to surprise you.”

He pulls back, gauging her sincerity, and then his eyes widen in happiness. “Really? Which one?”

“The first one,” she says, leading him to the couch. Of course she started with the first one.

She can tell he’s trying to reign in his excitement, and he turns in his seat to face her, taking a deep breath. “Well? What did you think?”

Oh, this is the best part. She can’t wait to tell him this. “I actually kinda liked it.”

It’s never been very hard to thrill Peeta, but this is on a whole other level. It’s like he’s vibrating with delight. She’s pretty sure he’s seconds away from squealing.

“We have so much to talk about!” he finally says, nearly bouncing with happiness. “And if you liked A New Hope, you’re going to absolutely love The Empire Strikes Back. Oh my god, I can’t wait for you to see it.” He gasps. “Can we watch it tonight?”

Ah hell.

“I think I should brace myself,” she says, and he nods earnestly.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. We’ll space all the movies out, that way we can discuss them each and…and you can ask questions! I can answer all your questions!” Wow, blow jobs don’t even seem to thrill him this much. She’s nearly offended.

But he’s so damn happy, it’s hard not to smile, too. And if deferring to his Star Wars authority for an evening is going to thrill him this much, then she’ll allow it.

“Okay, well I do have some questions.”

He nods eagerly, urging her to continue.

“All right, so I’m not sure I understand the relationship between the Trade Federation and the Senate. And what exactly is the Phantom Menace? And why did Darth Maul hate The Jedi so much?” But the more questions she asks, the more the smile slips from his face.

“Wait, wait. Darth Maul? The Phantom Menace? You…you watched Episode I?” He shakes his head. “And you liked it?” Well now he just looks completely disgusted.

“It’s the first one, isn’t it?”

He closes his eyes, utterly distraught. “Technically. But Katniss, it’s awful.”

She sits up straighter in her seat, feeling defensive. “I didn’t think it was bad!”

“I only have one question,” he says seriously. “What did you think of Jar Jar Binks?”

She shrugs. “I thought he was funny.”

Peeta drops his head in his palms, mumbling, “No, no, no.” Katniss rolls her eyes at his dramatics, but he recovers quickly, slapping his hands against his knees. “Okay. All right. It’s fine. We’ll just watch Episode IV now, and it’ll be fine.” He stands suddenly and walks straight to his shelves of Blu-rays. “You’re going to love A New Hope,” he says confidently. “And then you’re going to hate A Phantom Menace.”

He grabs his collector’s edition, and she falls back against the cushions, sighing.


	2. Flashback Scene- Peeta and Gale's Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gale and Peeta’s fight, as mentioned in the last chapter.

It’s just starting to get cold out, and the leaves that have fallen to the ground over the last few weeks are now damp with last night’s rain.  Most in the group look around at the muddy field and shake their heads, and Gale can barely contain his annoyance with their vanity.

"No tackling, then," one of the guys decides.  Gale can’t remember his name.  He’s Peeta’s friend, after all.  They’re all Peeta’s friends, not his.

Peeta has been watching him cautiously since he arrived, and any relief he might have felt when Gale first showed up to the game appears to be long gone.  He knows what’s up; this is not an olive branch, this is an opportunity.

"C’mon, hot shot," Gale mutters to him before they snap the ball.  "Just fucking  _try_  to get past me.”

Peeta proudly meets his glare as they take their places.

**

_"You going to homecoming?" Gale asks, his eyes still on the screen.  They’re playing old school N64 Mario Kart.  It was Gale’s suggestion, and Peeta easily agreed.  Gale’s been a little difficult lately, and Peeta suspects the college search has a lot to do with it.  It can’t be easy when the money just isn’t there._

_"Probably not," Peeta answers.  He’s still in first place after two boards and he’s not going down without a fight.  Peeta’d pretty much do anything for a friend, but throwing a game is_  not  _one of them.  Gale would never want that anyway._

_Right as they’re both approaching the shortcut on Koopa Troopa Beach, Gale’s hit by a shell, and Bowser spins out on the shore as Luigi sails on._

_"Dammit!" Gale yells, throwing down the controller.  "Every fucking time!  Was that yours?"_

_"No," Peeta says simply, refusing to be distracted._

_Bowser’s back on the beach, but before Gale can make much progress, he hits a banana peel._

_"Now_ that _was mine,” Peeta laughs._

_Peeta knows Posy’s in the next room, and she’s way too young to hear all of the things Gale surely wants to scream right now, so he doesn’t put up a fight when Gale hits pause._

_"Maybe you could ask Katniss."_

_"What?"_

_"To homecoming.  She never does anything either."  He holds his controller back up. "Battle mode?"_

_Peeta shakes his head.  ”I can’t ask Katniss, man.”_

_"Why not?" he asks defensively.  "She not good enough for you?"_

_It’d be hilarious if it weren’t so damn insulting.  Christ, they’ve been friends for over two years but Gale still lets their parents’ bank accounts define them._ _Sometimes he doesn’t understand why Gale even bothers maintaining a relationship with him when they’ve got next to nothing in common.  Why the hell hasn’t Gale cut him loose yet?_

_Peeta’s response has to be carefully measured without seeming so.  Thankfully he’s gotten really good at hiding exactly how he’s feeling.  It’s exhausting but useful._

_"You_ know  _that’s not true.”  And Gale does, because there’s no way in hell Peeta would be in his house right now if he didn’t._

_"So ask her.  She’d probably go if you did."_

_"I doubt she’s interested."_

_He knows immediately that he messed up.  It’s not the words but how he said them. Like it bothers him.  Like he_ wants  _her to be interested._

_But maybe Gale missed it.  It’s not like he’s ever seemed particularly emotionally aware in the past._

_He chances a look up and meets Gale’s eyes._

_Fuck._

_**_

Peeta only gets a few yards with the ball before he catches up with him.  All Gale needs to do, all he’s  _supposed_ to do, is touch him with both hands.  Just a touch.

But when he’s mere inches out of his reach, Gale unleashes a deafening battle cry and pounces, tackling him with everything he has.

Gale’s full weight on Peeta’s back catches him completely off-guard, and he falls to his knees, gritting his teeth in pain.  And okay, it’s a cheap shot because Peeta tore some cartilage a few months ago while wrestling.  So yeah, definitely an asshole move, but damn it felt kind of good to take him out.

"Better luck next time, Mellark," he says, grabbing the football off the ground and tossing it to one of his teammates as Peeta slowly stands back up.

"What the hell was that?"

"Are we not playing football?" Gale asks him, feigning innocence.

"Touch football, dickwad!" Peeta says as he roughly pushes him.

Gale wants to mock him for fighting like a 12-year-old girl, but the act sends him surprisingly off balance, and he staggers a bit before catching himself.  And suddenly he’s infuriated.  Seeing red, thirsty-for-blood-now _infuriated._

His fist connects with Peeta’s jaw.  Peeta’s head snaps back, but he recovers almost immediately and throws all of his weight behind a punch to Gale’s midsection.

Then they’re on the ground.

**

_The only reason Peeta admits to carrying a torch for Katniss for years is to make Gale shut up already._

_He’d been lecturing him for twenty minutes, like he’s her fucking keeper and Peeta’s a plotting pervert.  He couldn’t take it anymore._

_"Years huh?"_

_"It’s not like I’m going to do anything about it!"_

_"Yeah?  Seems to me you’ve been doing something about it for_ years _.”_

_"Exactly right, Gale," Peeta says, annoyed.  His fingers mime a puppet master pulling strings.  "I’ve spent all this time kicking your ass at video games to win her heart."_

_"Get out," he says as he heads to his room.  "And you’ve never kicked my ass at anything!"_

_**_

Katniss probably would have fallen asleep in the bleachers if it weren’t for the sudden ruckus on the field.  

She only showed up to see if she could catch a ride to work from Gale after the game.  Less than five minutes into it, she’s nearly dozing next to the quiet girl from her math class.  But she perks up when a fight breaks out, and then nearly falls off the bench when she realizes just who’s fighting.

She races out onto the grass, stopping right in front of the two grappling on the ground.  All the other guys are surrounding them in a semi-circle, cheering it on and even taking bets.  She’s about to step in to break it up when someone grabs her by the shoulder to stop her.  ”No,” Annie, the quiet girl, says.  Her eyes are wide and alive as she watches them wrestle with each other, and she doesn’t look away once.  ”Don’t you dare.”

"You’re an asshole," Gale says, trying to free his arm to get in another hit.  Peeta’s lip’s bleeding but he got in a strong hold and Gale can barely move out from underneath him.  

Peeta grimaces as Gale finally gets loose and starts to pin him.  He loses his balance and lands on his back, nearly knocking the air out of himself, and Gale gets in one really good punch right in the eye.

"Ah!  You fucking neanderthal!" he shouts, cradling his face.  

Gale takes a second too long to admire his work and that gives Peeta the opportunity to hit him back.  Now they’ll both have black eyes.

The one seemingly in control can only stay so for a few seconds before the other one takes over.  Katniss knows there’ll be no clear winner here, mostly because they both look like morons fighting like this.  But the others seem to be growing bored as the minutes go by.

Even Annie shrugs after awhile and heads back to the bleachers.  They’re still rolling around on the ground, both red-faced and breathless, and Katniss is trying to hear what they’re saying to each other.  It’s a lot of expletives and threats, but when Gale calls Peeta a liar, Katniss realizes this isn’t the result of misplaced competitive aggression.  This is a  _real_ fight.  This might even be the end of their friendship.

It’s an awful thought.  Gale doesn’t have many friends at all, and Peeta’s been so good for him.  And  _she_ likes having Peeta around, too.  He’s nice and he’s funny and he’s helped bridge the gap growing between her and Gale as they’ve gotten older.

"Stop it!" she yells, moving toward them to finally put an end to this.  They’re the only three on the field now, but neither Peeta or Gale seem aware of her.

She tugs at Gale’s flannel shirt in a bid to get his attention, but he ignores her as he tries to keep Peeta pinned beneath him.  ”Gale!  Stop!”

Finally Gale moves off of him, and Peeta sits up and blinks as they both register her presence.  Gale’s got a bloody nose and Peeta has a split lip,and they’ll both look like hell later, she’s sure.

"What’s going on?" she asks softly.  Neither say anything, and then Peeta stands up abruptly and wipes at his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.  He spares them each one more glance before he walks away.  Gale watches his retreating form, then starts walking in the opposite direction.  

And Katniss just stands there, dumbfounded but worried about her two friends and what this means for all of them.

**

Hazelle doesn’t want his brothers to play any of the violet first-person shooter games with him, so Gale started up Mario Kart again for Vick and Rory.  Big mistake, he soon realizes.  

"First place!" Rory sing-songs.  He’s dancing in front of Gale, his hands on his hips.  "WOOT!  WOOT!"

Gale sits with a clenched jaw as Rory continues to prance about, the ‘woots’ getting louder and more obnoxious with every pass around the room.

"OKAY!" Gale finally bellows.  "Enough.  Go play outside!"  Jesus, these games are supposed to help him  _relax._  And he thought Peeta was a sore winner.

He turns to his youngest brother who has been waiting patiently for his turn.  ”C’mon, Vick.  We’ll play now.”

"Rainbow Road!"

"We’re not playing Rainbow Road!"

"Rainbow Road!  Rainbow Road!"  Gale rubs his forehead in frustration as Vick starts running around like Rory was only moments before.

He ends up spending his Friday night in Posy’s room, playing with Barbies while wearing a pink boa, drinking invisible tea, and generally cursing his life.

**

Peeta thought he’d be the first to break, but Gale shows up to the bakery three days after their fight.

It’s nearly closing time, and he tells CeCe that he’s got it, so she goes to the back to finish up some things.  His lip is still swollen and he’s got a red welt under his eye, but it’s not the first time he’s taken care of customers while looking like this.

Gale walks up to one of the displays and pretends to browse, and Peeta rolls his eyes at the act.  ”You want something?” he finally asks.

"Uh, yeah.  I’ll take a couple of these tiny cakes."

“ _Petits fours_ ,” he corrects haughtily, and Gale’s eyes narrow as Peeta reaches into the case.

He throws a couple chocolate ones into a bag and sighs.  This sucks.  He totally misses Gale.  Peeta’s own family can’t make any time for each other, and while he technically has a lot of friends, they’re really more like acquaintances when it comes down to it.  It’s also not like he can just call up Katniss and ask her to hang out without it seeming weird.

He hands Gale the bag and takes the five for them because he knows Gale well enough to accept the payment.

Neither know what to say after the transaction is complete, so Peeta sucks it up because Gale technically made the first move by coming there.  ”I meant what I said,” he tells him, wiping his hands on his apron so he doesn’t have to meet his eyes.  ”I’m not going to do anything about it.”

"Yeah," Gale agrees.  "That’s probably for the best."  Peeta looks up at that and Gale shrugs.  "I’m not saying it to be a prick, or because I want her for myself or anything.  It’s just…well, you know how Catnip is."

"Yeah."

It’s quite for a long moment, but Gale doesn’t make to leave.  Maybe if they weren’t 16 and 18-year-old guys, they could sit down and have a nice, long discussion about their feelings or something.  Instead, they make up the only way they really know how.

"Black Ops comes out in a couple weeks," Gale reminds him.  "You still got it preordered?"

"Uh,  _of course.”_

Gale nods.  ”Wanna come over Sunday to watch the game?”

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Cool," and he lifts his chin in a quick goodbye before heading out.


	3. Grocery Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss and Peeta go grocery shopping. Post-series.

“Peeta! Pay attention!”

His eyes catch hers for a moment before they dart back over to the baby in the shopping cart. He’d been playing peek-a-boo with the little boy for a good five minutes as Katniss perused the produce. The child’s mother is scrutinizing the selection of melons, still oblivious to their game.

Meal planning and grocery shopping is one of the worst and most tedious parts of being an adult, Katniss has realized. But it’s made even more unbearable with Peeta. She wonders why she always insists he tag along when it turns into this. 

“Peeta!” she repeats, more annoyed.

But he’s still grinning at the, okay, adorable baby. The kid has a mop of curly black hair and happy, bright blue eyes that nearly rival Peeta’s. Every time Peeta lifts his hands over his eyes to ‘hide’ from the baby, he’s rewarded with a delighted giggle and big, toothless smile.

“Look at how cute he is,” he says. “He could practically pass as ours.” He leans in to whisper in her ear, “Let’s steal him!”

She elbows him in the side and then worriedly looks over at the mother to see if she heard that, but the woman’s still in her own world with the watermelon. God, you don’t joke about stuff like that in an urban grocery store! What if she were carrying?

“Do you want baby carrots or the regular ones?” she asks, getting back to business. It’s a Saturday and the damn place is packed; her goal is to get in and out in under half-an-hour and Peeta’s killing her time.

“Uh, baby.” Damn, he’s looking back at the baby again. 

“Are you ovulating or what? Come on, I don’t want to be here all day.” 

He grabs a bag of baby carrots and throws them into their cart, but she reaches in to snatch them back up as soon as they hit the metal. “Whoa there, Richie Rich. Those are organic. It’s only second best for us.”

She replaces them with the cheaper version and then tugs him along by his sleeve to pull him into the next aisle, but she doesn’t miss him waving goodbye to the little boy.

“Why are you so broody lately?” she wonders aloud as she pushes the buggy toward the meat section.

“Why are you using British slang?” She rolls her eyes as she grabs some packages of hamburger. 

“I like kids,” he answers with a shrug. “You know that.” She does, but he seems especially fixated on them lately. Maybe it has something to do with his decision to specialize in pediatric dentistry, but she’s not sure which one is the cause and which one is the effect.

He takes the cart from her and pushes it along the case, and then takes a couple steaks and throws them on top of their growing grocery pile. She clenches her teeth to bite back the words fighting to get out, but she doesn’t need another rehash of the argument they had last night.

Ugh, last night. She really should be more pissed about it. With Peeta’s lab hours, he usually doesn’t get home until after 6, effectively putting Katniss in charge of all their weekday dinners. But that’s fine; she’s learned to somewhat enjoy cooking. She even plays around with recipes when she has the time.

She had the time yesterday, so she went ahead and prepared a soup that she’d been wanting to try. She made that damn stuff from scratch, with herbs and everything! Yeah, it didn’t take long to throw together, and so what if she caught up with the DVR while it was simmering? It was homemade. 

Peeta got home and groaned appreciatively at the tantalizing aroma filling their apartment, and he beamed in appreciation when she set the bowl in front of him. She’d only had a few bites of her own serving, dutifully trying to ignore the annoying way Peeta slurps soup, when she heard his spoon clang against the dish.

“Mmm, that was great,” he said, pushing the empty bowl across the table. “So what’s for dinner?”

She blinked back at him. “That was dinner.”

“What?” He pulled the bowl back to him and stared down at it. “That’s all?”

“Go get more soup,” she said, growing annoyed.

“Katniss,” he started with an aggravating whine. “Soup is not a meal.”

“Oh?” Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “It was a meal when the Barefoot Contessa made it. If it’s good enough for a garden party with her Hampton friends, it’s good enough for you.”

“Soup comes before dinner. At best, it’s a side.” He stood from the table and headed to their kitchen, but stopped at the entryway. “And I highly doubt that Ina Garten made soup for a garden party.”

“She made it last week!” Katniss yelled back, her own meal forgotten as she moved to follow him.

He was poking around the cabinets, acting as if he were starved. “I need bread or something.”

“This isn’t Panera.” She leaned against the counter and folded her arms across her chest, thoroughly annoyed. 

“I need food,” he repeated. “It’s been a long day and I’m a growing boy!”

“You’re 22!” She followed him again as he grabbed the leftover loaf of Wonder Bread and took it back to the table. He could tap dance on her last nerve sometimes; she knew he was just on edge with his crazy workload and schedule, but it was really hard to keep that in mind when he was being a dick.

He tore a slice in half and shoved it in his mouth, exaggeratedly chewing it as he glared at her.

“Oh, you are coming to the store with me tomorrow and you are planning all the meals for next week!”

She stormed off to the living room then, her own food forgotten. 

How dare he insult her delicious soup! With fresh herbs. Well, okay, they were dried herbs. But he didn’t need to know that. It was still good, dammit. And it’s not her fault that he never offered up any suggestions on what she made for dinner. She’d ask him, repeatedly, what he wanted to eat. And if he didn’t grin wolfishly at the question before throwing her over his shoulder and taking her to the bedroom, then he’d offer up the same answer he always did: “I don’t care.”

“I don’t care.”

“Peeta,” she says, snapping back to the present. “That’s steak.”

“You said I had to plan all the meals. I like steak.”

“And I like being able to make rent,” she replies, pulling them from the cart and putting them back in the case.

“Would you stop acting like we’re broke.” He grabs the ones she just returned and puts them back in their cart.

She clamps her mouth shut. She will not get into a huge fight in the middle of the grocery store. That’s so tacky. 

She’ll wait until they get home to bite his head off.

“Fine,” she says with an unconvincing smile. “We’ll have steak one night. What else do you want?”

“I don’t care.”

She’ll kill him right now. Right here.

Katniss is at the end of her rope, and between Peeta and the crowds, she’s very close to losing it. So she grabs their buggy and marches determinedly to the next lane, silently daring one of the old ladies shopping next to her to get in her way, because she really wants to ram someone with her cart right now.

“You say you don’t care, but you hated my soup. Ugh, just…go get cereal or something, okay? Can you handle that?”

He nods and then heads off on his mission, and she’s already sure he’s going to come back with some name-brand, pure-sugar crap since he’s left to his own device, but she’s so beyond caring right now.

As she tries to reach for a box of pasta on the top shelf, she wonders why she even brings him to the store. He’s infuriating. Really. She’d probably be better off just shopping by herself.

Then Katniss feels the heat radiating from him against her back as he comes up behind her, and his arm reaches out above her head to effortlessly grab the item she had been struggling so hard to get. Okay, so that’s one reason to have him around.

“I love your soup,” he says, his breath tickling her ear. 

“Really?” She can’t help but to smile a little.

“Yes,” he says, nodding. “It was delicious.” It’s enough to appease her, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders as she leads him further down the aisle. 

“It was very appetizing,” he continues, and she stops, glaring up at him in warning. “Because it’s an appetizer.”

“I’m going to kill you,” she says, trying to fight another smile. 

He just laughs and pulls her toward the dairy section. “C’mon. I’ll make dinner for you tonight.”


	4. Peeta and Cato Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What about that time he almost got into a fight with Justin Cato in Current Events when he made a rape joke? Doesn’t it just figure that Peeta would be the one guy in the class to do something about it?" Pre-series, missing scene.

Katniss scheduled Current Events because she heard it was an easy A, and with the hours she’s putting in at work lately, she needs all the help she can get.

Peeta doesn’t need the GPA boost, and she doesn’t really understand why he didn’t take an art class as an elective.

It’s nice, though, having a class with him. He’s always in the AP-level courses that Katniss doesn’t have the time to bother with, so it was a pleasant surprise when he told her that he’s taking CE, too.

Now they spend nearly all of the 50 minutes of class right next to each other, exchanging notes and smiles. She realizes that they’re becoming better friends since Gale graduated, not drifting apart as she assumed they would. She likes that.

As Miss Trinket blathers on about the big, big, big day for national news, Katniss nudges Peeta’s arm. He’s doodling in the margins of his notebook, the cap of his pen between his teeth as he draws.

He looks up at her and then reads the message she scribbled on the loose sheet of paper between them. Hangman?

They’re really getting into Words with Friends, but their phones aren’t permitted in class. So they started going old school.

He grins, the challenge accepted, and writes, You want to guess first?

She nods in agreement, getting a clean piece of paper to start the game. Peeta takes it from her and draws the upside down L for the scaffold, then taps his pen against the desk as he thinks of a word. When he grabs the 500 SAT Words book from beside him, she slaps at his thick arm. 

No, she mouths, but he shakes his head and continues to leaf through the book. Huffing in annoyance, Katniss tries to sneak a glimpse of the page he’s on, but he turns and blocks her view with his shoulder. When he’s made his selection, he draws seven blank spaces on the sheet of paper.

She bites her lip, contemplating the first move. S?

He smiles triumphantly, and their hapless victim now has a round circle for a head.

T? she tries, but he grins again. Now the man has a stick for a torso, and she’s 0 for 2. It’s getting serious, so she goes for a vowel. E.

“Everdeen, come on,” he says, giving the man a line for a right arm. Shit, they usually only play to six guesses; they’re already half way there and she hasn’t gotten a letter yet.

L? 

Peeta chuckles, and now the drawing has two arms. She’s totally screwed. 

N?

“Yep,” Peeta says happily, writing the letter in on the last line. So the words ends with N. 

“I,” she says confidently. Miss Trinket must be busy with something else as the other students start chatting with each other, too.

“And now we have a left leg.” 

“Oh come on, Peeta, how am I supposed to guess an SAT word? Give me a better clue than that. Part of speech?”

“Noun.”

That doesn’t help much. “One more?”

“Fine. In some cases, it’s a mineral.”

She grits her teeth. “I hate you.”

Peeta laughs lightly and it just incites her more. She narrows her eyes as she stares at the blanks on the page. “R.”

“There you go.” He writes the R in on the third line.

_ _ R _ _ _ N

“E?”

The man has all of his limbs now and Katniss sighs in defeat. “We’ll keep going,” Peeta says, and Katniss raises her brow, because he’s usually more than happy to revel in his victory. “It’s an SAT word, so you should get more guesses. I’ll give him a top hat or something.”

“A top hat?” she says skeptically. 

His smile stretches. “Yeah, he’s dapper.”

As she’s considering the next letter, Miss Trinket begins discussing the date-rape scandal occurring at one of the local college campuses. An entire fraternity house was brought under investigation following a recent party, and it’s been a touchy issue in the media, as well as the class. Of course with Justin Cato in on the discussion, there’s not much of a shot for sensitivity.

She’s watched Peeta clench his jaw before as Cato acted up. The guy never takes a thing seriously, whether it is sexual abuse or genocide, and Peeta can’t stand him. Katniss feels the same way.

“What do you think this could mean for fraternity houses in the future?” Miss Trinket asks as she sits on top of her desk, her legs crossed at the ankle and her 6-inch heels dangling from her feet.

“Nothing,” Cato intones. “Girls have to learn to watch their drinks. It’s bull that they’re punishing everyone like this.”

Next to her, Peeta rolls his shoulders, then looks down at his notebook doodle. “Yes,” Peeta says loudly as he takes a pencil from his messenger bag. “That’s the real issue here.”

Oh, there’s no love lost between Cato and Peeta, for sure. The guy glares over at their table as Peeta starts shading some of his work, and Katniss glowers back at him before returning her attention to her friend. The sleeves of his plaid shirt are rolled up to his elbows, and she becomes almost transfixed on his forearms and hands as he shades in his drawing of the oak tree just outside their classroom window.

Miss Trinket wants others to weigh in on the debate. Isn’t it a small price to pay, she asks, if it prevents future rapes?

As Cato waxes poetic about the kind of girls that go to frat parties, Katniss watches Peeta clench his fist against the table. She’s starting to get really pissed, too; normally it’s just best to ignore Cato and not give him the attention he so obviously seeks, but sometimes something just has to be said.

“Why are we talking about the girls?” she asks when she can’t take it anymore. “Why aren’t we talking about the ‘type of guy’ that justifies drugging someone else’s drink and taking advantage of them?”

Mercifully, a girl from her 3rd period English class speaks up, too. As Cato deals with her, Katniss shakes her head before studying the paper again. She can barely think now, she’s so annoyed, and Peeta’s scowling next to her.

“What if I miss another one?” she asks, drumming her finger against the desk.

“Then he gets a monocle.” 

She snorts a little as she pictures it. “And a little mustache?” she asks hopefully, and Peeta nods.

Across the room, Miss Trinket warns Cato to watch his words.

“God, I’m just saying, if you show up at a damn party dressed like that and you drink until you pass out-”

Another girl chimes in and starts arguing with him. “Peeta,” she says, nudging him in an attempt to diffuse his anger. “P.”

He brightens. “Hey, look at you on a roll.” The P goes on the first dash. Starts with P and ends with N. Hmm…

“I should be able to go to a party and drink as much as I want without worrying about anything,” the girl says. Cato laughs and gives her the thumbs up. “Yeah, I don’t think you’d have any problems.”

“Would you shut up already?” Katniss yells. She can’t take another second of it. 

But Cato doesn’t shut up, ever, even when Miss Trinket raises her own shrill voice at him. He only gets another few words out before Peeta loses it, too. “Christ, Cato, it’s not the girl’s responsibility to prevent rape.”

Cato laughs again. “It’s okay, Mellark. Just tell her,” he motions to Katniss, “that GHB is a new kind of beer and maybe you can finally get in her pants.”

“Watch yourself,” Peeta says lowly, fixing Cato with such an ice cold stare that Katniss genuinely hopes he takes the advice.

“All right, I think that we’ve all said enough about this for today,” Miss Trinket says, her high voice uncharacteristically hard. She turns to the dry erase board and starts writing the details for their next assignment.

Cato quiets enough to appease Miss Trinket, but he’s still looking over at them, eyeing Katniss in particular and ranting to his friend about how some people can’t take a joke. Then he smacks his hand against his buddy’s chest and asks, loudly enough for them to hear, “So if you rape a hooker, do they get you on shoplifting charges, too?”

The screech from Peeta’s chair sliding across the wood floor is piercing. He’s in the guy’s face immediately, and though Cato’s got a few inches on Peeta, he certainly doesn’t seem intimidated. They glare at each other, practically toe-to-toe, and Katniss is worriedly holding her breath as she waits for someone to throw a punch.

“Okay, that is ENOUGH!” Miss Trinket yells, her heels clacking loudly across the floor as she springs to separate them. The bell rings, and she looks around at her class. “Everyone else is dismissed. You two stay right here.”

Katniss lingers awkwardly for a moment before grabbing her and Peeta’s things and leaving the room. It’s their last class of the day and she wants to know what happens to him. Truth is, she’s glad Peeta did what he did.

The hallway empties quickly as students eager for the weekend rush out of the building. After leaning against the lockers for a few minutes, waiting, Katniss remembers their forgotten game. Peeta’s book is under her arm, so she flips to the P-words and searches for a match. 

Paragon. That’s it. She reads the definition:

1\. A model of excellence or perfection of a kind;

2.

a. An unflawed diamond weighing at least 100 carats.

b. A very large spherical pearl.

She rummages through her bag for a pen, and then takes the slip of paper from their game and unfolds it across the book. After she fills in the rest of the blanks, she writes, ‘Peeta Mellark is a’ above it, and ‘of the male species’ below. 

Peeta Mellark is a paragon of the male species, for sure.

Just as she’s folding the note, Cato bursts out of the classroom door, not even sparing a glance her way as he angrily marches toward the principal’s office.

Now she’s worried about Peeta’s fate. What will happen to him? Detention, maybe? She’s not sure how his parents will react to that.

He emerges a few seconds later, smiling when he sees her waiting for him. “So what’d you get?” she asks cautiously.

“A high five,” he laughs, standing before her. She shares his smile, then slaps the paper against his chest, holding it there. “Wanna get a pizza when I get off work tonight?”

“Sure.”

She really has to get going, so she hands him his things and tells him what time to meet her. As she walks away, she can hear the crinkling from the paper as Peeta reads it over. She blushes, but she’s smiling the whole way to her car.


End file.
